Forgotten Testament XVII
Development Forgotten Testament XVII is currently under development by TUSjecht and is the 17th, and possible final game, within Forgotten Testament. Characters ﻿ Main protagonist - Zaru Elecrys Abducted by the Gnaysian military when he was just one human year old, extensive surgical memory modification has kept his past hidden from him, even as nightmares of the kidnapping and operations haunt him. Despite the massive efforts of the military to bend him to their will and bidding, he still retained a sense of morality, especially when ordered to kill another human. A subsequent operation depressed this even more, but by then, he had met Terra, and developed the will to resist. Sub-protagonist - Terra Baren-Noki The child of a human father and Respe mother, Terra could pass for human, except for her brilliantly blue eyes, a characteristic not present in both Respe or humans. Terra is technically younger than Zaru as she is born 6 human years before him, but her mixed heritage means that she ages exactly half a Respe year for every human year. She and Zaru are therefore the same age in Respe years. Primary antagonist - Emperor Xuen The ruler of Gnaysia, he seized power on the pretext of asserting emergency rule when the Respe Corps attempted to destroy Gnaysia's power grid. He has since tailored Gnaysia into his own personal kingdom, keeping a tight grip on power, the military, and information. He eventually takes matters into his own hands to directly control Zaru when he personally kills Dr. Ofu. Sub-antagonist - Caine Deveraux The captain of the secretive squad WHTCPE, he is also Zaru's mentor. He was the first person to discover the true motive of Operation White Cape, and his refusal to execute any more orders results in his complete brainwashing and reprogramming. He does not fear death, as he tells Zaru once, "We are born, so we die. Its just when." Plot ﻿Twenty years before the start of the game, Respar-Egnum secretly ordered an elite squad of the Respe Corps to destroy Gnaysia's power grid, which was heavily polluting the seas despite the theoratical "clean energy" that geothermal power promised. The squad nearly succeeded, but Gnaysia stopped the squad several steps short of a complete success. Gnaysia publicly executed all but the medic of the squad, countering international outcry of the lack of a trial by revealing the objectives of the squad. Respar-Egnum retaliated a week later by terminating energy agreements to Gnaysia and cutting off all diplomatic relations, and claimed no such mission had existed for that squad. Respar-Egnum - Gnaysia relations had since stopped. Unknown to the Respe, however, Gnaysia was already ready for a full-scale invasion. Unleashing the full might of their armies, Gnaysia, led by Emperor Xuen, Gnaysia's invasion of Respar-Egnum caught them by surprise. In the course of just half a year, Gnaysia captured more than half of Respar-Egnum, almost reaching their capital city. In desperation, Respar-Egnum cut a deal with Emperor Xuen at the eleventh hour, granting Gnaysia free access to key ports, airports, and energy, in return for a truce. Emperor Xuen agreed and ordered the withdrawal of just over three-quarters of his force. However, on the way back, he ordered a crack squad to kidnap a Respe infant "for our insurance" as he put it. This infant was code-named WHTCPE. With the medic obtained from the doomed Respe squad, Project White Cape was launched under a cloak of secrecy. After modifying the medic's memories, (now believing his name to be Dr. Ofu) WHTCPE's memories are modified as well, completing the first objective of the Project. Seventeen years later, Zaru has grown into a full-fledged soldier, the commander of the crack squad WHTCPE, with Caine Deveraux as squad Captain and Zaru's mentor for much of his life. In an FMV sequence, Zaru is shown fighting against Caine in various forms of combat in a training exercise. An interested Emperor Xuen looks on at their training. Afterwards, Zaru and Caine attend a Graduation Ceremony for the latest batch of Gnaysian super-soldiers. As Zaru looks on in amazement at their capabilities, Caine presents Zaru with a Captain's key, and makes Zaru the Captain of WHTCPE. When Zaru enquires about Caine's departure, he merely smiles and brushes aside the question. Zaru's first task as Captain is to lead WHTCPE to investigate suspicious activity at a Gnaysian guard post. Along the way, they discover the mangled bodies of Gnaysian guards, unsettling Zaru as he ponders the nature of that which inflicted such fatal wounds. As Zaru and his team enter the deserted compound, they encounter a young child serenely waiting at the courtyard. As Zaru steps closer, the team is surrounded by dozens of swordsmen, and the child commands them to terminate Zaru's team. With little time to react, Zaru and two sharpshooters in WHTCPE flee into the guardhouse, while the remaining four engage in melee combat to buy time and possibly warn HQ of the security breach. Deep inside the guardhouse, Zaru discovers a vast tunnelling network dug under the compound, potentially going all the way to Gnaysia. Zaru can choose to take the tunnel to Gnaysia and destroy digging equipment, or return to the surface for the other four and receive additional orders via radio. Either case results in the player advancing further into the tunnels because Zaru is ordered to find the start of the tunnel network, though the latter option adds two team mates to the current party of three. Pressing onwards, Zaru encounters more Respe creatures and diggers. Tunnel collapses kill two more teammates before they finally break out of the network underneath the sea. Exhausted from the constant fighting, Zaru is helpless to regroup with his team as he tries to prevent the tunnel from collapsing. An explosion goes off and knocks out Zaru, and a large rock crashes onto his head ans the tunnel collapses. The FMV ends with Zaru floating towards the surface, blood seeping from his head. Backstory ﻿ Operation White Cape is a programme to achieve memory modification through controversial surgical means. The programme, funded by the Gnaysian (NAY-SIAN) military, aims to create the perfect fighting force: #Removing parts of the brain associated with storing memories. This allows for complete brainwashing of soldiers and realign them to desired mindsets, without lengthy neural programming courses undertaken in previous efforts. #Alter perceptions of fear, who to fear, when to fear. Instill respect for the authority, thereby removing all threat of mutiny. Extensions - zero mercy for enemy soldiers, no fear despite overwhelming odds. (the achilles heel of expansionary military campaigns) # Trans-species experiment WHT17. (Zaru) Gnaysia (NAY-SHEE-AH) is currently at war with neighbouring country Respar-Egnum.(to be referred to as Yu Qiao in media reports) Population is monoethnic, very human-like in looks and physique, even biology. Respe, as they call themselves, are however capable of wielding magic of considerable strengths. Hence, WHT17 is a project to: *A) Kidnap a young Respe, before it develops linguistic ability at one human-year. *B) Surgically implant false memories of human infancy, guaranteeing ignorance of its true past. *C) Raise it. Observations are sketchy at best, but Respe develop magic powers at around 10 humans years of age. (2.5 Respe years) Any powers observed can be turned to our advantage. Possible applications - Spy, infiltrator, etc. The list in endless. Memory-modification surgery may well prove to be a key factor in the Gnaysia - Respar-Egnum war. Yu Qiao, the propoganda name of Respar-Egnum, is the pronounciation of 狱桥, literally "Bridge to Hell." Gnaysia's ruler, Emperor Xuen, forbid the state media from referring to Respar-Egnum as a civilised country, preferring to portray it as a resource-rich land that was inhabited by savage beasts. But the invasion is all for the magic, and this is where Zaru is the key player. Having had his memory modified at (other's) will, he fully believes he is human, until he stumbles upon Terra's home. Although she is half-Respe,(human father, Respe mother) the presence of any Respe triggers Zaru's powers to activate, because he was way past the age of maturity, but the absence of a suitable enviroment kept his powers from manifesting. ~Excerpt from Dr. Ofu's report on WHTCPE17. "Respe biologically age at a far slower pace than their human counterparts. Project OSIRIS, an observational programme, uncovered this phenomenon. The capture of the Respe infant under Project White Cape further refined this into a number - one human year is approximately equal to 0.258 Respar years." "Bizarrely, WHTCPE17 has physically matured at the same rate as others of the same age. Short of suggesting OSIRIS did not examine closely enough, it implies Respe and humans have far more in common than previously thought. Blood tests over the course of the memory modifications show that WHTCPE17 also has twenty-one pairs of chromosomes, proving the Kein-Thier Theory of Evolution. However, chromosome activity is at far elevated levels than in a similar human child, suggesting that far more is happening than current technology can quantify. Perhaps, this is the source of magic in Respe? I cannot answer honestly." Battle Mechanics Unlike most typical RPG games where characters have a health point (HP) bar, the mechanics of XVII are very different. Every character has a Tolerance bar. This bar represents how much more damage that character can take before collapsing. Damage dealt to characters therefore correspond to a decrease in the Tolerance Bar. (T-bar) The T-bar, has an automatic recovery rate. It is slow, but is always there, unless affected by a status ailment. Therefore, enemies in XVII have complete liberty to deal considerable damage right from the start. The T-Bar is also divided into segments of increasing length, divided by colour. A T-Bar of 999 points might be divided as follows: Red - 0-249 Orange - 250-499 Indigo - 500-749 Green - 750-999 The colour of the T-Bar thus reflects a quick guage of how much more Tolerance does the character have. The level of Tolerance also determines how fast does the character's EOE Stryke gauge charge. The lower the character's Tolerance, the faster the EOE gauge charges. Weapons Weapons are also different from standard RPG-style, where one simply buys a more powerful weapon. What you do have is your "trusty" weapon, and the option to upgrade it at certain shops. Weapon upgrading is affected by whether the upgrade was physical or magical, which affects the stats and attack animation. Weapon upgrades are also limited, represented by the (weapon name) growth grid. You can freely downgrade the weapon to a lower position anywhere to where the grid demarcates, but upgrading to new positions always uses Weapon points, earned in battle. High-tier upgrades, such as boosting T-bar recovery rate, may also need to be paid for with experience points. Expanding the grid's area, and therefore the abilities you can upgrade to, requires the payment of a skilled weaponsmaster. So you can no longer just buy your way to OP tier - you have to work for it to upgrade your "beloved" weapon. Category:Forgotten Testament Series